3 ms·
Tinnitus is not a disease, it is a symptom. Do you know the underlying condition? If not this should be your priority. It is not easy to have a clear diagnostic
by jerome-jh 3y ago
Tinnitus is not a disease, it is a symptom. Do you know the underlying condition? If not this should be your priority. It is not easy to have a clear diagnostic when the only symptom is tinnitus (often associated with hearing loss). Some otorhinolaryngologists are satisfied with the diagnostic of "sudden hearing loss", which is catchall for "I don't know". Don't let yourself be fooled by this and search for better doctors.
If you are lucky enough to have a diagnostic, then the priority is to treat the disease. This may alleviate the hearing loss and sometimes the tinnitus. In some cases tinnitus may completely disappear (for example in the case of a viral infection affecting the auditory nerve). But often tinnitus remains and you have to live with it. Anyway having a diagnostic is in itself a relief.
If you do not have a diagnostic, I guess you have to learn to live with it. It may be more difficult in this case. After all it is not the end of the world. Many things are worse than this. It can be hard to sleep at times. Doing sport improves sleep. It can be hard to hear people during meetings. Sometimes you will have to ask them to repeat. You can seat closer to the main speaker. You can prefer to connect remotely with a good headset.
I have a disease of the hear which for sure won't improve. In a sense this is a relief because I stopped "monitoring" my tinnitus so closely, maybe 7 or 8 years after my diagnostic, and 2 years after my second surgical operation. It does not keep me awake at night.